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I Got Your Turkey Right Here
by Ben Tripp  I'm sorry I have so little to say in such momentous times. I daresay nobody else is. The facts is this: it's all happening exactly according to the Washington meta-script with the monotonous inevitablility of a cape buffalo's bowel movements. The timing was slightly off --I thought Iraq would come unhinged the moment Saddam was sentenced, not a week afterwards, and I thought it would take at least three weeks for the Democrats to start infighting-- but these are trifles. In the big picture, it's all right on schedule.
Other developments More than 140 bodies were found dumped across Baghdad from Monday through Wednesday, police said. Of the 52 bullet-riddled bodies found Wednesday, 20 were blindfolded, tied up and possibly tortured, police said. Dick Cheney's office in Washington denied reports the vice president was in Baghdad on Thursday. Iraqi state television earlier had reported that Cheney was in the capital on an unannounced visit. The vice president is set to travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday for talks. President Bush is scheduled to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan next week, a meeting overshadowed by the assassination of Lebanese Cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel. The killing has inflamed tensions in the Middle East. The new Marine Corps commandant said Wednesday that the longer than anticipated pace of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan is putting an unacceptable strain on his troops. Gen. James Conway said the service is unable to meet its goal of giving Marines twice as much time at home as in a war zone." This is from a CNN story entitled, for the holiday, "More Than 140 Killed in Baghdad's Sadr City" You tell me, but it seems like we've not only lost over in Iraq, we are now getting our asses handed to us on a plate. Those are just the sidebars, remember. The article is about a series of savage mass killings and botched military operations in addition to all that. Back at home, the Clintonistas, led by James Carville, have suffered their first cracker defeat at the hands of populism, Howard Dean having staved off Carville's attempt to get him out of his position running the DNC. Apparently it wasn't good enough for the Vichy Democrats to win the election from seat to shining seat-- they needed to do it without citizen participation, too. From a Slate article: "If you can handle only one internal Democratic Party squabble at a time, you might have missed the dustup between Howard Dean and James Carville. It happened while the larger battle for House majority leader was taking place between Stenny Hoyer and John Murtha, Speaker Nancy Pelosi's failed pick. What you missed was Carville, a former Clinton adviser, charging Dean with "leadership that was Rumsfeldian in its incompetence" and arguing that if it hadn't been for Dean, the party would have gained even more seats in the midterms. At a gathering of the Association of State Democratic Chairs in Wyoming, Dean responded: "This is the new Democratic Party. The old Democratic Party is back there in Washington; sometimes they still complain a little bit." Emphasis mine. Good old Howard Dean. Carville should make like his hair and get lost. Anyroads, it is Thanksgiving Day, the day when reformists bitch and moan about celebrating the slaughter of indigenous peoples in the Americas, and traditionalists bitch and moan about how good old-fashioned holidays are being ruined by immigrants, such as Native americans; meanwhile tens of millions of Americans are lucky if they can scrape up enough turkey loaf and mayonnaise to celebrate at all. I can't stick all of that into my holiday, although one admires Howard Zinn for trying. Thanksgiving is, and always has been, a holiday about cooking. It's when you haul out your trick yam recipe (one that makes them edible), and the one from great-great grandma with peas, sauerkraut, and cream in it. It's when people that don't cook, cook, and people that cook go apeshit. It's a time for roux and pearl onions, cooking sherry, fresh herbs, and things that require husking, shelling, cracking, and infusing. You make the most of whatever you have. One lean year I made a turkey out of seitan. It looked like one of Richard Harris's pectorals in 'A Man Called Horse'. Lots of folks go to Subway and get a turkey sandwich with everything, or they make Turkey TV dinners and throw in some potato chips to spice things up. Most Americans make some vague attempt to acknowledge the day, and 99% of the time, that effort involves food. I don't celebrate 'slaughtering indigenous persons' day. My ancestors were the very folks that dragged their emaciated asses through that first apocryphal Thanksgiving. Do I give a shit about them? No. They were hateful, cold-hearted zealots, stupid and needy and blinded by faith in an imaginary revenge creature living in the sky. I celebrate Interesting Food Day, called 'Thanksgiving' because no matter how weird the dish is, you have to say thanks to whoever gave it to you.
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